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A Day in the Life: Thursday, October 17

These “A Day in the Life” posts are my attempt to answer the frequently asked question: “What does a typical writing day look like?” Because the answer is that there is no typical writing day.

This particular day seemed like a good example of both what a travel day looks like—especially as 17 out of 31 days this October were spent traveling!—and also a day in which I didn’t actually do any writing. Oops, spoiler!

6:00 a.m.: Alarm goes off, and I wake up in a Boston hotel, immediately thinking: This is the day I give my first-ever keynote speech!!

6:15: I grab my speech notes and go over them for the gazillionth time.

7:00: Free coffee is now available in the hotel lobby. I run down to grab a cup, then head back to my room to start getting ready.

8:00: A car picks me up to take me to the Teen Librarian Summit in Worcester, MA. I go over my speech notes again.

9:00: Arrive at the Summit. Meet the coordinators and scarf down a small muffin. I never have much of an appetite before I present, but I also don’t want to pass out halfway through!

9:30: The tech guy and I set up my powerpoint presentation with the projector. Librarians start filing in. They all seem super nice and excited, as librarians tend to be. I calm down a little bit. Now that I’m here, I’m actually starting to feel pretty confident about it.

10:00: The coordinators make a few announcements, and introduce me, and it’s Go Time.

10:15-11:15: First Keynote Speech EVER! My speech includes talk of Star Trek, Harry Potter, and some of my favorite science-inspired YA books. It goes great, and I’m so happy that it’s over.

11:30: I sit in on Robin Brenner’s (of www.noflyingnotights.com) awesome and informative breakout session about teenagers and fandom. I adore Robin Brenner. She is a kindred spirit. And I love that her presentation includes talk of authors who got their start writing fanfic—and I’m included!

12:30: Lunch and a little mingling with the librarians. I get lots of lovely comments on my keynote.

1:15: Another breakout session, this one with Brandy Danner, on dystopian and steampunk fiction. I add some books to my TBR list. Because that’s what I needed…

2:15: Time to sign some books!

3:00: A car picks me up and takes me back to the hotel. I am all relief and joy, and mentally drained. I catch up on Twitter during the ride.

4:00: I’m always tempted to hunker down in my hotel room, but tonight I force myself to go down to the lobby and be with the people. I bring THE RAVEN BOYS by Maggie Stiefvater, which I’m reading in preparation for our panel together this Saturday at the Boston Book Festival.

6:30: I take my reading into the hotel restaurant to grab some dinner, and I am the only person there. So much for being with the people.

7:45: I only have fifteen pages left in the book, but ARGH, I need to set it down and get ready for the #NaNoPrep Twitter chat which starts at 8:00. I try not to be bitter.

8:00-9:00: Twitter chat with Gennifer Albin (CREWEL) and the folks at NaNoWriMo. Twitter chats are always hectic and fast-paced and I’m dizzy by the end of it, but I hope people are feeling inspired and capable by the end!

9:00-10:30: I turn on the season finale of Project Runway, and finish reading The Raven Boys during commercial breaks—what a great night. I LOVE the book and can’t wait to pick up Book 2: The Dream Thieves at the festival on Saturday. Plus, my favorite designer wins Project Runway. My favorites NEVER win!

10:30: Still on west coast time, I spend a couple hours answering emails before finally crashing a little after midnight.

Words written: 0, but I still consider this a successful day.

2 Comments

Cool. I’m working on the second draft of my first novel that I started last May. If I ever become a published author> if ever, a day in the life would be cool. Right now I’m not really proffesional writer while you are. I write in between school and other things and my desk is this little desk crowded with books, papers, pencils, candles, photos, calendars, candy and school work. You name it, I’ve got it on my desk! But yeah, love to be a real writer like you! Have a great day, oh- just noticed I’m the first commenter-YAY!